From my previous Pepsi blog entry, I mentioned that Pepsi is focusing on digital marketing. From this wonderful source, Harry Hui, Pepsi’s chief marketer for China said that Pepsi's global strategy is to become consumer-centric. Hui elaborated that for Pepsi's marketing direction, "the overall move is from Brand centric to consumer centric; projective to engaging; static to customized experiences; episodic contact to each communication is a link to the next; one-way to viral and community enabling."
They engaged the Chinese consumers by focusing on their target market's passions: music, sports and interactive.
I present two case studies from the same source. I have personal knowledge of the first one, but none about the second one - and it also surprised me. :)
1. Create an ad
Proximity (a digital marketing agency) presented during the IMMAP (Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines) that in China, Pepsi ran a "create your own Pepsi commercial" contest.
Consumers create a script with actor Jay Chou as the main character. Then consumers choose the winner. The campaign was basically a website execution. the same source above revealted the contest stats. Amazing numbers:
- 28,000 scripts received
- 690,000 bulletin board posting
- 5 million online participation/votes
2. Appear on a can!
Pepsi China also ran an "appear on a can" contest. Same mechanics as the Philippine execution. As Hui elegantly put it, "we wanted to create youtube on a can."
The China stats were:
- 3 million photos submitted
- 163 million votes
- 7.5 million bulletin board messages
- Pepsi also managed to get many celebrity endorsements for free, since they wanted to appear on the can.
